People Smartz Blog

This will be a short blog entry but probably the most important you will read!

Australia's new IR Laws come with a kick.  If you are non compliant you can be fined and forced to pay back pay, credit accruals, pay additional superannuation guarantee payments and additional pay roll tax - and that is only the start of the list!

Here are some examples of the ramifications if your business is found to be non-compliant:

• Non Compliance with Modern Award Conditions - a fine of $33,000 for a company for each breach plus the cost of back wages etc to the employee.
• Non Compliance with National Employment Standards - a fine of $33,000 for a company for each breach plus the cost of making up the breach to the employee.
• Avoidance of Employment Obligations (Sham Contracting) a fine of $33,000 for a company for each breach plus back taxes plus superannuation guarantee payments plus possible implications for payroll tax.
• Unfair Dismissal - back wages if found to be an unfair dismissal plus possible superannuation to the employee.  in addition, legal costs and lost opportunity costs in regards to time and effort to defend the claim.  Cost = many 000's of $$$.

The cost of being compliant is minimal compared to the costs of being caught out! 

Contact us today to arrange for a Free Compliance Assessment for your business.

So why do I need a business coach? Why do I need a HR Coach?  Why do I need a coach at all?

These questions are fired at me fairly regularly and I would like to take the time today to explain why!

First - Coaching is not consulting. Consulting implies that you identify a problem that a client has and you propose a solution. Coaching is more about assisting your to help yourself.

There are many other reasons for working with a business coach, but here are just a few:

1. Working with a coach is an investment in you and your business.  Your business is about your future and you need to have your time and energy concentrated on the important areas of growing your business.
2. The purpose of working with a coach is to guide and encourage you to achieve your goals. A coach will insist on excellence and guide you towards the desired outcomes through the development of a well structured and tailor made business plan. 
3. A coach will help you identify the areas of waste in your business, where your time is being used ineffectively and assist you in correcting these areas.
4. A good coach will have experience in identifying the right people for your team.  The individual's fit into the team is as important as their technical skills.
5. Your coach will look to assist you in developing your sales funnel through targeted sales and marketing processes and activities.
6. Because coaching is not consulting it is more cost effective by building the internal resources within your company.

There are many coaches out there with their own specialities.  Some concentrate on sales, others on marketing, others on strategic direction.  The choices is yours about which is the most suitable for your business.

People Smartz believes that regardless of the specialty area, it is the people involved that produce the results.  This is why our coaching is designed to identify the ways your business can achieve success through people. With People Smartz Coaching you are investing in you and your team - not a process.

For more information - contact us today.

> Learn more about People Smartz Coaching Programs 

One little known part of Australia's new industrial relations laws is the BOOT. No, this is not way to get rid of troublesome employees by using your Size 9's (or whatever size boots you wear)! Instead it is an abbreviation for Better Off Overall Test.

The new laws allow for award conditions to be varied on an individual basis as long as the variations result in the employee being better off overall when compared to the award conditions.

What does this really mean?  Well it means employers and employee can agree to more flexible conditions providing the BOOT is passed.  However, it also creates some problems for employees leading up to 1 January 2010 when the BOOT comes into effect.

On 1 January 2010, a new safety net will be coming effective for all national system employers.  This safety net will comprise new Modern Awards and the Minimum Employment Standards.  New modern awards will cover all employees under a threshold which is roughly $100,000.

If you currently have employees on agreements (or AWA's), come 1 January 2010 these agreements will need to pass the BOOT.  If they do not you may be in breach of the award covering your industry or the minimum employment standards. This may result in investigations by Fair Work Australia and/or relevant unions and significant costs to your business in fines, backpayments and time.

So what do you need to do?  First you need to review your agreements to ensure they are compliant with the new minimum standards.  Then you need to alter your practices to ensure you will be compliant by 1 January 2010.

Leaving this until 1 January 2010 is not the right thing to do!  From January 1 if you are not compliant you are in breach of the legislation and an employee or union may report you for the breach. 

So be aware of the BOOT - start looking at your agreements and systems now! People Smartz are currently offering free employment compliance reviews to businesses.  These reviews will identify for you the areas you may need to act to protect your business.

A few blogs ago, I told you about the new unfair dismissal laws and how they affect small business.

The new legislation becomes law on Wednesday, 1 July.  With these laws comes a revamp of the Australian Industrial Relations Framework.  With Australia's political landscape this is not really new - it regularly changes with changes of government!

As already stated, the new laws change the unfair dismissal laws.  Other areas that are affected are:

• The expansion of Workchoice's 5 minimum standards of employment to a 10 minimum standards.  With the new modern awards, these will form the new Safety Net for employees from 1 January 2010
• A change to the definition of small business
• Increased Union Right of Entry into workplaces for investigation, discussions and OH&S matters
• Significant changes to the manner in which industrial relations is governed with the creation of Fair Work Australia - a one stop adviser, mediator and arbitrator of the new laws.
• The abolition of AWA's (no surprise there!)
• An "emphasis on enterprise level collective bargaining underpinned by simple good faith bargaining obligations"
• The introduction of an additional discrimination jurisdiction under the Fair Work Act.
• Redundancy and Termination changes including the setting of minimum redundancy payments and notice periods 
• Maternity and Paternity Leave

With these new laws it becomes more important than ever to ensure your workplace has procedures and policies in place to respond to employee complaints and lay down expectations in the event of a dispute or issue.  In addition, you employment agreements may now contain clauses that contradict the new laws.  I recommend strongly that you seek some assistance to ensure you are ready!

Should you need any further information on the new laws, contact People Smartz and we will be happy to assist.

It is now under two weeks until the new Industrial Relations Laws take effect.

Small Businesses are effected by these new laws - yet recent survey's have shown that only 5% of Australian businesses are prepared for the changes!

One significant change to the laws are those concerning unfair dismissal.

The dismissal of an employee, for whatever reason, is an unpleasant thing.  Regardless of the reason, the dismissed employee is likely to feel hard done by and aggrieved.  It would be a very unusual employee who accepts a dismissal without some sort of hard feeling!

Many small business owners I speak to believe that because they have less than 15 employees they are not effected by the unfair dismissal provisions of the new law.  While this is technically right - it does not mean that small business can not be subject to a claim for unfair dismissal.

Under the new laws, small business must follow the "Fair Dismissal Code for Small Business" when dismissing an employee to protect themselves against a claim for unfair dismissal.  This does not stop an ex-employee from making a claim, but if you have followed the code then you may be protected from the ramifications.

So, the fact is that, as a small business, you can still be the subject of a unfair dismissal claim.  With the associated pain of handling the claim and the unpleasantness it causes, you need to do what you can to protect yourself.

Amongst other things, It is important to ensure you have good performance management systems in place.  If you have dismissed an employee for performance reasons, you need to be able to prove that you have counseled the employee and given them an opportunity to improve.  If you have not done this - then an unfair dismissal claim could be proved and your hip pocket is likely to take a hit!

There are many other things you can do and many other affects that you may not be aware of.  At People Smartz, we offer small businesses in the Brisbane and Coffs Harbour areas the opportunity to have a free risk assessment of their business.  In that assessment, you will learn about some of the other affects the laws will have on your business - and what you can do about it!

If you live outside Brisbane or Coffs Harbour, contact us anyway.  We will pass on your contact details to other members of the HR Coach Network.

To book your assessment - click below:

Free Risk Assessment of Your Staff Systems